Jāgīrdār system, form of land tenancy developed in India during the time of Muslim rule (beginning in the early 13th century) in which the collection of the revenues of an estate and the power of governing it were bestowed on an official of the state. The term was derived by combining two Persian words: jāgīr (“holding land”) and dār (“official”). The bestowal of a jāgīr on a jāgīrdār could be either conditional or unconditional. A conditional jāgīr required in reciprocity from the beneficiary some form of public service, such as the levying and maintaining of troops for the benefit of the realm. An iqta (assignment of land) was usually made for life, and the jāgīr would revert to the state on the death of the holder, though it was possible for the heir to renew it on payment of a fee.

The system was introduced by the early sultans of Delhi. Being feudalistic in character, it tended to enfeeble the central government by setting up quasi-independent baronies. The practice was slowed by Sultan Ghiyās̄ al-Dīn Balban (reigned 1266–87) and abolished by Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Khaljī (1296–1316), only to be revived again by Sultan Fīrūz Shah Tughluq (1351–88), from which time it continued. The early Mughal emperors (16th century) wished to abolish it, preferring to reward their officials with cash salaries, but it was reintroduced by the later emperors and contributed greatly to the weakening of the Mughal state. The British East India Company was given a jāgīr by the nawab Muḥammad ʿAlī of Arcot in present-day Tamil Nadu state 120, miles (190 km) in length along the Bay of Bengal and 47 miles (76 km) in width inland; it became the nucleus of the Madras Presidency. Under the British the old jāgīrdār holdings were largely considered the properties of individual families, particularly in the area of Maharashtra. With Indian independence, legislative measures were taken to abolish the system of absentee landownership.

Learn More in these related articles:

...dominions. With a masterly mixture of tact and firmness, he largely succeeded. He retained Indian agency as far as possible, and he allowed the Maratha nobles, or jāgīrdārs, to retain most of their land and many of their privileges. He even continued some donations to Hindu temples. He used the ...

The manṣabdārs were generally paid in nonhereditary and transferable jāgīrs (assignments of land from which they could collect revenues). Over their jāgīrs, as distinct from those areas reserved for the emperor (...

...the East India Company and the Calcutta citizens but also large payments to himself and the council. He received £234,000 in cash, a Mughal title of nobility, and a jagir, or estate, with an annual rental of about £30,000. This example opened the way to a flood of corruption that nearly ruined both Bengal and the company and which Clive himself...